Chamber Q&A: Commissioner Chuck Thaxton
Since the COVID-19 crisis prevented the Polk County Chamber of Commerce from hosting a candidate forum in person ahead of the June 9 primary, the organization reached out to candidates with questions to answer in a written form. Below are the responses provided by County Commission District 2 incumbent Chuck Thaxton.
What suggestions do you have for the complaints about the landfill as to odor, rain runoff, how it looks in general?
The landfill is an issue that this community has had for many years. After being elected four years ago, it became a priority of the board to find solutions to the issue. Because of the legalities of this contractual agreement, the board made the decision to file suit against the operator. The judge ruled in favor of the County and put in place certain changes. This is still an ongoing situation, and is not the final solution. Ultimately, not just our community, but us has a country must come up with better ways to dispose of trash.
What is your educational background that qualifies you for the position?
1988- Rockmart High School, 1992 – Georgia Northwestern EMT, 1994 – Georgia Northwestern Paramedic, 2003 – University of West Georgia BS Political Science
Please identify at least 3 goals you plan to focus on, and how you would measure if these goals are achieved.
I have always felt that one of the most important jobs of government is to help keep people safe. One of my goals is to improve police, 911, and fire protection. One way to do this is to set up a positive environment and competitive wage to keep quality communication, and law enforcement officers. This doesn’t just apply to public safety but to all departments. Secondly, as I previously mentioned in question 1, finding a permanent solution to the landfill. Third, producing an environment where private business can create good paying jobs, and reduce the number of citizens that have to travel outside the county to work.
What are the 3 most pressing issues facing Polk County and how would you propose a solution or corrective action to be undertaken?
Staying on the public safety theme is crime, drugs, and gang activity. We must provide law enforcement with the tools they need, but also as citizens we must be willing to work together to defeat these problems.
We also need to work with the courts to make sure that people get treatment when needed and punishment when that course is needed. Another issue is growth in the county. While growing up in Rockmart, I remember Paulding county having about the same population as Polk.
Today they have over three times the population. This is where smart growth comes into effect with planning and zoning. With residential growth comes increased demands on services. If growth is not balanced with retail and industrial growth, the burden on the tax payer can increase at an abnormal rate. Along with growth, the support of existing business should also be a priority. Another area of concern is the county fire services that will be talked about in question 7.
Do you feel that starting salaries for county employees are sufficient to continue to recruit people to fill vacant positions?
Prior to last year’s budget cycle, the commission ask the University of Georgia Carl Vinson Institution to prepare a wage study. This study was put into place, and I feel has helped with some of the wage issues. There may be some areas that will need to be looked at as we go forward. What the commission needs to keep focus on is to not let wages get out of range as we go forward.
What is your assessment of the financial health of the county?
What the difference two months can make. The financial health is good for Polk County, but with the national shut down and unemployment rising, revenues and expenses need to be watched closely. Because of previous experience during the last rescission, I am fiscally conservative.
If government spending during good times gets out of control it will make things harder during downturns.
Is the establishment of a paid fire department for unincorporated Polk County a priority for you and will you work to make that happen during your term as commissioner?
I started my public safety career as a volunteer firefighter and have the upmost respect for the people who donate their time and put their lives on the line for the people of Polk County.
For this reason, we need to make it a priority to come up with solutions to providing fire protection. This problem in my opinion needs a multi-prong attack. Volunteerism has dropped in a lot of areas across the country, and volunteers must juggle work and time to volunteer. The cost of going to a full-time fire department is very expensive and cannot be done overnight.
With this being said, I don’t foresee at least in my lifetime a period that we will not need and want volunteer firefighters. So, the first step is to promote and try to increase our number of volunteers. Next, we should look at locations of the present stations and try to increase coverage and decrease response times.
Third, we need to look at placing some paid firefighters in certain locations to help the services we have now improve. For example, when the volunteer population is lower due to work. Finally, working with the cities to have automatic aid that will benefit all parties. The main goal should be life safety and property conservation. Along with this is to also lower ISO ratings which will result in lower insurance cost.
What do you think are the positive efforts made and the areas for improvement in our efforts to promote economic development in our county?
I feel that the promotion of small business and industry that already call Polk County home is just as important as the work to get new business to come in. I feel we need to provide more activities to bring people into the downtown areas. I know we have our festivals that bring people in from outside the county as well as locals, but maybe we can also have weekend activities such as concerts, car shows, live music on certain nights during warmer weather.
These activities need to be focused on local family entertainment. With that being said, we have to try and get a balance of restaurants and retail businesses that can draw people downtown. We have to offer families more to do than to just eat and go home.